Gun control advocates, opponents square off in Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe was hospitalized Monday in Richmond with complications from being tossed by a horse and breaking seven ribs during a holiday trip to Africa with his family, a spokesman said. McAuliffe was expected to spend the night at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and recover for two or three days, spokesman Brian Coy said. Terry McAuliffe is pushing a package of gun control measures ahead of this fall’s state legislative elections even though they stand little chance of passage in the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

The Old Dominion Democrat suffered the injury on Christmas Day during a family trip to visit his daughter, who works for a no-profit in Tanzania, the Associated Press reported. Many attendees wore orange “Guns Save Lives” stickers and a speaker assailed McAuliffe and other gun-control advocates as “gun grabbers.” In the afternoon, gun-control backers wore yellow “Background Checks Save Lives” stickers and displayed a string of red paper hearts representing the more than 800 gun deaths in Virginia last year.

First lady Dorothy McAuliffe said in a written statement that her husband was “resting comfortably” after doctors successfully completed a procedure to drain fluid from his chest cavity. “He and I want to thank the outstanding medical team at VCU Medical Center who just informed us that he is expected to recover well and get back to his full schedule within the next few days,” she said. McAuliffe has proposed restoring a Virginia law, repealed in 2012, limiting handgun purchases to one a month; closing the so-called “gun show loophole” that allows sales by private sellers without a criminal background check; prohibiting possession of firearms by people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence and those subject to protective orders; and revoking concealed handgun permits of parents delinquent on child support payments. McAuliffe had been working as he normally would since the accident, delivering his State of the Commonwealth address last week make several trips around the state. McAuliffe’s packed schedule doesn’t allow him to routinely participate in equestrian activities, the governor is confident in his riding abilities, his spokesman said.